Sztynort (german: Groß Steinort) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in the administrative district of Gmina Węgorzewo, within

Węgorzewo County __NOTOC__ Węgorzewo County ( pl, powiat węgorzewski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the border with Russia. It was created in 2002 out of the northern pa ...

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship or Warmia-Masuria Province or Warmia-Mazury Province (in pl, Województwo warmińsko-mazurskie, is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The voivodeship has an ar ...

, in northern Poland, close to the border with the

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast (russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, translit=Kaliningradskaya oblast') is the westernmost federal subject of Russia. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and admin ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. It lies approximately south-west of

Węgorzewo Węgorzewo (until 1946 pl, Węgobork; german: Angerburg, lt, Ungura) is a tourist town on the Angrapa River in northeastern Poland, within the historical region of Masuria. It is the seat of Węgorzewo County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodes ...

and north-east of the regional capital

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

. Before 1945, the area was part of the German province of ( East Prussia). The Palace was the property of the

Lehndorff The House of Lehndorff is the name of an old German noble family from former East Prussia, first recorded in 1236. Members of the family occupied many important military positions within the Kingdom of Prussia. They held the title of Imperial Coun ...

family since 1420 (by other sources since 1565) until the

expulsion of Germans from Poland The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II. The German population fled or was expelled from all regions which are currently within ...

after the border changes of 1945. The current palace was built by Marie Eleonore von Lehndorff née von Dönhoff after an older building had been destroyed by

Polish Tatars The Lipka Tatars (Lipka – refers to '' Lithuania'', also known as Lithuanian Tatars; later also – Polish Tatars, Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, ''Lipkowie'', ''Lipcani'', ''Muślimi'', ''Lietuvos totoriai'') are a Turkic ethnic group who origi ...

in the Second Northern War in 1656. German Foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop used the palace throughout his sojourns at the nearby

Wolfsschanze The ''Wolf's Lair'' (german: Wolfsschanze; pl, Wilczy Szaniec) served as Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II. The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the small village of Görlitz in Ost ...

between 1941 and 1944. The last proprietor of the estate, Heinrich Count von Lehndorff, was executed by the Nazis for his participation in the plot against Hitler that failed with the faulty assassination attempt on 20 July 1944, at the nearby

wartime military headquarters of the Nazi regime. After 1945, the palace was occupied for several years by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. An agricultural cooperative moved in in 1950. In 2009, it could still be viewed only from the outside, the interior, neglected for more than half a century, having become badly degraded. In November 2009, the ownership of the palace was transferred to the German-Polish Foundation for Cultural Maintenance and historic Preservation (''Deutsch-Polnische Stiftung Kulturpflege und Denkmalschutz''), and reconstruction of the ruins began in 2010.Deutsch-Polnische Stiftung Kulturpflege und Denkmalschutz
The village has a population of 170.

Notable residents

Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort Heinrich Ahasverus Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort (22 June 1909 – 4 September 1944) was an East Prussian junker and aristocrat who became a member of the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Biography Heinrich von Lehndorff was born ...

(1909-1944), resistance fighter (daughter/model)-Veruschka von Lehndorff

References

Villages in Węgorzewo County {{Węgorzewo-geo-stub